About
Me
Catherine Chant is
an award-winning writer from New England. A technical writer,
computing & communications consultant and web manager in
higher education for fifteen years, she now focuses on writing
book-length romantic fiction and short non-fiction/fiction pieces.
Catherine is an active
member of the Romance Writers
of America (RWA) and the Society
of Children Book Writers and Illustrators (SCBWI). She served as webmaster for her RWA chapter From
the Heart Romance Writers from 2004-2011, as Programs & Workshops chair or co-chair from 2005-2008, and as Vice President of Communications in 2009. She currently freelances as a website consultant for
the Lynch School of Education
at Boston College and frequently volunteers her time
to judge RWA chapter contests and to mentor other writers in
her chapter.
Previously, Catherine
was the webmaster and book review coordinator for Futures Mystery
Anthology Magazine and worked as a Senior Editor at Chippewa
Publishing LLC.
Catherine's short fiction and non-fiction work has
appeared in ApollosLyre, Twilight Times, MetroKids,
SchoolArts and RWA Chapter newsletters. She is currently working
on a new suspsense novel. |
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Okay, the above is
my "formal" biography, but there's more to me than
just writing.
Web
Design Services
Are you a writer in need of a website? Maybe I can help. I take on new website projects as time allows.
My
Crochet Work
I've been crocheting for over thirty years. I specialize
in historical gowns for fashion dolls.
CraftsByCathy
This is my Etsy store for handmade knit, crochet and jewelry items.
Catherine Chant Crochet Etc.
This is my Craftsy store for original knit, crochet and jewelry patterns
My
Family
My husband and I currently live in New England with our adorable
little boy and three spoiled rotten indoor-only cats: Peanut, Mimi and Buttercup.
As of January 2008 we are also the caretakers for a feral cat colony of 8 outdoor-only cats that we had spayed/neutered through Habitat
for Cats' Trap-Neuter-Release program. All 8 are related to one another (six are direct siblings) and doing well, and they all have names based on their appearance or personality: Greybeau,
Fluffy, Pete, Paul, Blackie, Happy, Puff, and Meanie.
Several have become friendly enough to pet or hold on my lap through months of patience and TLC (food is a great friend-maker :-) ), but all are still too people-shy and "wild" to be considered adoptable. So we try to give them the best life possible on our property, given the situation they've found themselves in due to some human's irreponsibility in letting an un-spayed female cat wander.
In case you haven't guessed, I am a HUGE supporter of spay/neuter programs. Feral cats don't just happen. Someone's "pet" cat starts the chain and many, many cats lead excruciatingly painful lives filled with disease and starvation because of it. It is a complete myth that cats can live like wild animals outdoors, find food etc. They are domesticated animals, not lions and tigers. So, as Bob Barker says, Please Spay or Neuter Your Pet! Even if you think they won't every go outside, do it. They'll live longer and happier lives because of it (and so will your neighbors who "inherit" the offspring as they spread and multiply.)
Our Travels (More
pictures coming soon!)
- '11 "Stay-cation" trips to Mystic, CT and Gloucester, MA
- '10 Maryland & Virginia
- '08 England
- '07 Gettysburg, PA, Frederick, MD and Harper's Ferry, WV
- '06 Lancaster & Hershey, PA
- '05 Disneyworld
- '05 England
- '04 Elmo's World (PA)
- '99 Paradise
Island, Bahamas
- '98 Bermuda
- '96 Colorado
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I worked for fifteen
years at Boston
College in the department of Information
Technology. (So no surprise that I'm back there now as a
web consultant. The place is in my blood! :-) ).
A quick synopsis: I received my B.A. in Mathematics from Boston
College, with a concentartion in Computer Science, and I was enrolled in the short-lived Computer Science M.S.
program there for a couple years.
At the time of my son's birth, I was working as a Senior Communications
Consultant, for IT Communication Services at Boston College,
focusing on the IT
web site and user documentation (for print and for web).
Prior to this, the positions I held at BC included: Web Information
Services Manager, Computing Consultant and Supervisor of the
O'Neill Computing Facility (now known as the Campus Technology
Resource Center).
Going even further
back...
I started writing
stories when I was around 9 years old after becoming addicted
to Nancy Drew and the Dana Girls. I invented my own sister sleuthing
team (Joan and Brenda) and delighted my friends with the duo's
adventures.
In high school, I
progressed into poetry and sappy gothic romances. My eleventh
grade English teacher commented on one of my "short"
stories: "This should be a novel." WHY oh why didn't
I listen to her? Or anyone who throughout my high school and
college years encouraged me to study creative writing? (It would've
saved me so much time! :-) ).
For some reason I
had it in my head that writing, like acting (which I was also
involved with in high school), was a fun hobby, but the chances
of making a successful career out of it were slim. So I was
prodded toward the more practical careers like science and business,
and I eventually ended up in computer technology. I started
an entry-level position at BC a week shy of my graduation ceremony.
From that point on, everything I learned about computers and
technical writing I owe to the on-the-job experience I received
during my fifteen years in that department (and my own motivation
for learning and self-teaching of course! :-) ).
It was also during
my time working at BC that I decided to seriously start writing
fiction. But it wasn't until the birth of my son that I had
the opportunity to leave the corporate world to become a stay-at-home-mom and focus more time on my passion for creating characters and stories to entertain
readers. |
